Autumn-to-Winter Tree motor-skills kids craft activity

This is a lovely activity we've updated that develops motor skills and promotes understanding of what's happening in nature around now.

"All the trees are dead" says Anthony this time every year.  He expects all the plants to be doing what they should be doing now that autumn is turning to winter.  This fun activity reinforces the changing of the seasons and gives us a chance to talk through the kids experiences. And it's great to get the kids collecting the leaves for it too.  You may just have to dry them out before you can use them!

Here's what you need to :

• Draw or cut out of a 'naked' tree
• Grab some glue 
• Collect or find things for sticking; we used collected leaves and some cotton wool for snow but you could use other things such as coloured paper if you didn't have any
• Once you've got things laid out - just get sticking!

Gluing and sticking are great practice for bilateral motor skills as you need to use both hands together, eg. holding the paper and gluing, or holding the glue stick and pulling the top off.  Younger kids can also make the tree freehand by just glueing sticks to the page.  We added in jumbo easy grip tweezers for picking up the leaves or cotton wool snow balls too.  These are really good for developing a pencil-like grip and finger strength.

Many of Jane's leaves and cotton balls ended up 'flying in the sky', which I thought was pretty observant of her! But made a good mess around the table, and that's fine too. 

What would you put on your tree?

Links
Our blog - All the trees are dead - autism, facts and absolutes
Our blog - Help kids decide what to wear craft activity

We did this lovely Tree craft activity at Me Too & Co - Play sessions, a local organisation that supports children with additional needs and their families.